Steppin' Up.. one shoed?

Yesterday was another small milestone for Jonas. We have been playing outside most every day for hours, and one of his (many) favorite things to do outside is step up and down and up and down over and over into the little risen garden-y area in the front of our house. Well, yesterday he went chasing after Brandon and stepped up onto the wood all by himself! He always has needed at least something to steady himself, but yesterday he did it alone... aww, my Boy is getting so big!!

Also yesterday, Jonas and I had a big adventure. It started early, like 6:30 early. Yeah, he got up at 6:30. Awesome. Actually, it was surprisingly ok considering it was 6:30... maybe because I left him to his own devices while I worked up to getting up for 45 min... but still. (PS Jonas is just fine in his crib in the mornings, he is quite happy to kick things and play with his stuffed animal for a long while... thank goodness. anyway...) So yeah. We get up, we eat some breakfast, and I thought it would be a good day to hit the childrens museum since we were already up early.

So I was about to get us ready to go when I got a call from our neighbor, Darlene, saying that she had seen this person driving slowly around our complex for the 3rd time, and she thinks I should get our house ready to be looked at just in case.... so I spent about an hour cleaning up while Jonas grabbed my hand and tried to drag me outside (he has figured out he can 'take' you somewhere now). Needless to say, he was not terribly pleasant. He did perk up when I got out the vacuum, but his excitement quickly turned to trepidation the second the vacuum actually came on. Apparently it was just a bit louder than he thought. That did not stop him from wanting to help though. He happily helped push the vacuum when it was off, and even attempted to turn it on with the foot pedal... lucky for him the vacuum was unplugged when he did though, or he would have been scared! Finally, satisfied that at least the toys were cleaned up, we headed outside.

Feeling like I really should get my cell phone transfer taken care of, I decided to go outside with the wireless landline phone and call Net 10 AGAIN. Amazingly, I got through without a wait. Miraculously, the girl on the other end (while having a slight accent) both spoke and understood English well. My luck had changed for the better! Jonas chose this moment to throw his ball down the hill.

Well, I couldn't hang up with Net 10. The combination of luck was surely not going to happen again, so I had no choice but to hover very close to the house, my howling 1 year old attempting to run after a ball while I spelled my address slowly over the phone to a lady in India. I was not leaving this connection. I finally decided that we would have to go inside, because I just couldn't keep catching Jonas as he tried to run and get his ball (adorbale, but dangeresque). So I scooped him up, and took him inside. Of course, now he is screaming at the top of his lungs (ish), because now he his not only ball-less, but also outside-less. Good move me. Thankfully lady in India was very patient. I decided then that we would just go in the "back yard", so that Joe would be outside, but enclosed. I generally avoid going in the back because we have a very nice fountain back there with rocks and a pretty gazing globe in it. Naturally, Jonas beelines for these, as was the case today. This was still better than him running, so I sucked it up as he played with slimy rocks and tried to break my glass gazing ball, not even thinking about all the birds that bathe in the fountain or what breeds in standing water.

At this juncture, I was really getting somewhere with India lady, but she needed some info that I had written on a paper somewhere inside. Great. Rather than start another meltdown, I left the door open and ran inside, Jonas playing happily in the water. Can't find the paper because I cleaned... sweet. Keep looking... keep looking.... aha! Got it! I ran back in, and Jonas was just where I left him, as was India lady. I gave her the info. She then needed more info, that I needed to call Ken to get. So I call Ken, phone in one hand, india lady in the other, baby now discovering rocks can be thrown.... awesome. He just threw a rock into our house and scratched our new(ish) hardwood floors. Well... long story short, craziness occured, but I did get my phone straightened out and nobody got hurt, unless you count our floors, a couple of rocks, and possibly the ball's feelings.

Sooo, after all of that, it was about 10:30. Not enough time to make the childrens museum worthwhile, but at least enough time to go shoe shopping at the mall, right? Right. Jonas loves the mall, so we packed up and went. Sure enough, Jonas was a happy little clam in the mall, I tried on shoes, walked around, pet some bunnies, whatever. It was about noon, so we headed back to the car. I strapped Jonas in and was about to pull out when I noticed he wasn't wearing his shoe. Remembering the near-loss incident with his shoe of a few days ago with Brandon (Joe threw his shoe off in the walmart parking lot, and we had to drive back and get it). I thought I should check the car. Nope, no shoe. Surely it was close, I know he had them at the last shoe store we went to, which was incidentally on the 3rd floor at the opposite corner from where we were. we would just retrace our steps... it was probably close. I grabbed Jonas, who was now quite tired and didn't care for the stroller, and headed back in carrying my sleepy boy. You guessed it. We walked the whole mall twice (well, I should say the whole length of the mall twice), asked all the store people for stores we stopped at, a security guard, and even the hairdresser I got a card from, but no shoe was to be found =(. very, very sad. Especially since I thought those were the only shoes he had. The sliver lining was that Joe was so sleepy, he was being very, very sweet and cuddly. He kept giving me higs and patting me on the back (he does that when he is sleepy since I pat him on the back before I lay him down). Very sweet!

Defeated, I headed home. Oh crap, I haven't driven back from the mall in ages. Hope I took the right exit. well, I didn't think I did so I turned around. Turns out I did, though, so I turned back around... another 20 min. wasted. Sigh. Finally, we got home around 1 and I laid Joe down (he was pretty much asleep, no lunch =( ). Whew! What a crazy morning! You know, though, even though it was crazy, I kind of enjoyed it in a weird way. I guess I always assumed being a mom would be doing crazy things like that, and it does make for a good story. Well, I'll give it a fond memory at the very least =)

Muggle Quidditch!!

So, several months ago, I did a youtube search for 'quidditch' and found a news story on a bunch of college kids that had started an official Muggle Quidditch league. Well, I HAD to at the very least see this, better yet play it. Dispite Brandon's pessimism that I could ever find enough people willing to play, and that it would ever happen on top of that, we got a group of 9 people together (15 is the preferable number, bust still!) and played.

Being a very unatheletic person, as were most of us, the games were kind of short and probably not as crazy as if we were all in shape, but we still had SO much fun! There is even talk of starting a league in our area... so who knows? maybe we will! I hope so... that would be sweeeet =) Here were are teams (at leat the original ones):
Brandon, Max, Dave and I were on the brown team (lame name... whatever)
Sarah, Zan, Julie and Jec were on the blue team
And naturally, Ashleigh was the snitch, followed by Sarah and then Max last.

Jonas had at least marginal fun wiht Grandma watching us play. Sure, it was very hot, but whatever, he's a toddler, he lives for being dirty. I gotta say, he was probably the dirtiest I have seen him (well, at least sticky-wise) after playing, but nothing a long bath wouldn't fix.

Sigh... good times. I need a shower sooo bad =)

Busy, Busy week!

Well, this past week (so far) has been one of extreme 'business' for the Kennedy family. I 'officially' have a big new client as of the past weekend, and finding time to work on stuff for them has been the name of the game this past week.

As most of you know, Brandon and I both work at home, and since Brandon is in summer classes that occupy his time until 1:15 Monday - Thursday, then has to do the work for those classes and get products shipped, that leaves me just about zero time during the day to do programming. I basically have an hour or two at lunch to get some things done, but since it takes me a solid 30 min. just to figure out where I was when I was last there... It really cuts into my programming time.

Thankfully, I have been blessed with wonderful people willing to watch Jonas for a full day, yay! Monday Jonas stayed with me. We went to story time at the library, which is now a consolidated group of birth-almost 3 years old. Talk about a madhouse! There were SO many people there! I actually ran into a girl I went to high school with and her 10 month old there... pretty neat. Anyway, the range of kids was interesting because the older ones would sit and listen to the books, so the smaller kids (Jonas) would copy them... it was pretty adorable. Anyway, still craziness with over 20 families in the room at once.

Tuesday, Sarah Feild volunteered to watch Jonas most of the day, and from what I heard, he had a big time playing and going on errands with them. They went to the bank and he got a sticker (yay!) and he even got to visit the daycare across the street, where I am told he was a big hit. He must have been, because as we left, you could see all the kids with their noses pressed against the glass waving at him... aww!

Yesterday, Monica volunteered to watch Joe along with Chase, Brooklyn, and Ashlynn. Wow-- I don't know how she does it!! Jonas must have had a LOT of fun at their house if for no other reason than he was totally exhausted when he got home. He stayed asleep when I put him to bed (which he doesn't usually do), and he slept this morning until NINE! He never does that anymore! Monica said he was being sneaky about going up their stairs (he isn't supposed to do that). He would wait until he heard a noise he thought would distract her, then RUN up the stairs as fast as he could, but she was watching to tell him 'no no!" hahaha, funny boy! She said he also really enjoyed wearing the dog costume of Chase's (woof woof!). Ellen watched all the kids that night for cell, and she said Evan and Jonas were doing a lot of hugs and kisses to eachoter... and sure enough, as soon as she said it, they both went in for hugs and kisses... adorable! She even said Evan fell over once and Joe tried to help him up... I didn't even know he registered that stuff. I got home from cell to see Brandon home. He had skipped cell so that he could play with Jonas some. He had hardly seen him in days, and little boy was already asleep.. aww!

Today, Joe stayed with me, so I didn't get anything done. But that's ok. My head was so full of functions and singletons that I think the break was good for me. It also gave me (and Jonas) some time to prepare for the Muggle Quidditch game this saturday, for which I have not gotten anything done. Joe and I went to a bike shop and got a messed up bike wheel for a goal, then went to Aunt Jill's for 3 hula hoops. We also went to Lowes (home improvement) for the PVC pipes. That was a fun trip. They had a shopping cart that was a GIANT jimmy johnson race car with a seat at the top for a kid to sit and drive, so naturally, we had to have that. Jonas LOVED it. he drove and made car sounds all through the store... so cute!

Oh! we also went to the park this morning, where Jonas chased some 'big kids' and tried to get them to bump his fist. they didn't get it and just gave him a wide girth. He also threw a football around, and when he threw it out of the playground area, he couldn't figure out how to get it back, so he tried a few things, then decided he would just walk around... so he walked out of the playground area, around to the football, and back in with it. Nice. That is real problem solving... amazing how he grows!

I gave Joe a haircut this monday. He looks so big! I just cut the hairs on top down, but still... it makes a big difference. Sigh... big boy.